Tag Archives: Egyptian

Few have traveled to the pyramids of Egypt and not wondered how an ancient civilization without modern technology could have constructed structures so large they can be viewed from space. Some have theorized they were built inside out.

Perhaps the most confounding mystery of all involves how incredibly large stones made their way to the middle of the desert without massive mechanical assistance. No camel, even the Egyptian kind, is that strong.

The truth, researchers at the University of Amsterdam announced this week in a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, may actually be quite simple. It has long been believed that Egyptians used wooden sleds to haul the stone, but until now it hasn’t been entirely understood how they overcame the problem of friction. It amounts to nothing more, scientists say, than a “clever trick.”

They likely wet the sand. ”For the construction of the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians had to transport heavy blocks of stone and large statues across the desert,” the university said. “The Egyptians therefore placed the heavy objects on a sledge that workers pulled over the sand. Research … revealed that the Egyptians probably made the desert sand in front of the sledge wet.”

It has to do with physics. The sort of sledges the Egyptians used to transport the two-ton loads of stone were pretty rudimentary. They were wooden planks with upturned edges. Dragging something that heavy through hot sand would — unsurprisingly — dig into the grains, creating a sand berm that would make progress nearly impossible. It “was perhaps observed by the Egyptians that in [a] dry case, a heap of sand forms in front of the sled before it can really start to move,” says the study, authored by a team of eight researchers led by Daniel Bonn.

Wall painting found in the tomb of Djehutihotep. A large statue is being transported by sledge. A person standing on the front of the sledge wets the sand. (Courtesy of Daniel Bonn)

The only way around that problem would be to constantly clear the sand out of the way, making a tedious process even more tedious.

Damp sand, however, operates very differently. According to the research, “sliding friction on sand is greatly reduced by the addition of some — but not that much — water.” So this time, researchers placed a laboratory version of an Egyptian sledge in a bin of sand that had been dried in the oven. Then they threw down some water, and measured the grains’ stiffness. If the water had the appropriate level of wetness, something called “capillary bridges” — extremely small droplets of water that glue together individual grains of sand — would form.

These bridges not only stopped the sled from forming sand berms but also cut by half the amount of force required to move the cart. “I was very surprised by the amount the pulling force could be reduced — by as much as 50 percent — meaning that the Egyptians needed only half the men to pull over wet sand as compared to dry,” Bonn told The Washington Post.

Indeed, he says the experiments showed the required force decreased in proportion to the sand’s stiffness. “In the presence of the correct quantity of water, wet desert sand is about twice as stiff as dry sand,” the university says. “A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.”

Too much water, however, would create separate problems. “The static friction progressively decreases in amplitude when more water is added to the system,” the study says.

Adding more evidence to the conclusion that Egyptians used water is a wall painting in the tomb of Djehutihotep. A splash of orange and gray, it appears to show a person standing at the front of a massive sledge, pouring water onto the sand just in front of the progressing sled. What this man was doing has been a matter of great debate and discussion.

“This was the question,” Bonn wrote in an e-mail to The Post. “In fact, Egyptologists had been interpreting the water as part of a purification ritual, and had never sought a scientific explanation. And friction is a terribly complicated problem; even if you realize that wet sand is harder – as in a sandcastle, you cannot build on dry sand — the consequences of that for friction are hard to predict.”

He said the experiment not only solved “the Egyptian mystery, but also shows, interestingly, that the stiffness of sand is directly related to the friction force.”

In all, the scientists say, “the Egyptians were probably aware of this handy trick.”

Egypt’s presidential elections will take place on May 26 and 27, Egyptian media reported Sunday, citing an announcement by the country’s Presidential Elections Commission.

Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced Wednesday that he would resign and declared his candidacy in the national polls. El-Sisi, 59, Egypt’s defense minister, had to leave the army in order to run for president.

El-Sisi is popular among Egyptians who supported the army’s decision to remove Morsy from power last year following mass protests against the latter’s rule. into his term — seeing el-Sisi as the kind of strong man needed to end the turmoil dogging Egypt since a popular uprising in 2011

On the Ropes, But No Obit for Muslim Brotherhood

WASHINGTON — In Egypt, the so called Arab Spring has given way to a violent winter.

Dozens of Christian churches have been burned to the ground. Deadly attacks against Egyptian troops and police continue, as do calls for jihad against the so-called “enemies of Allah.”

After Egypt officially banned the Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year, many people started dismissing the group as if it were no longer a powerful arm of radical Islam.

But Islamist groups don’t give up so easily. The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies have been busy since the Egyptian military forced President Mohammed Morsi from office.

As it fights for survival, the Brotherhood is clearly on the ropes in Egypt. It has once again been outlawed, and most of its leaders now sit in prison awaiting trial.

Polls show that a large majority of Egyptians are pleased with the change. Millions of Egyptians consistently took part in massive protests last June calling for Morsi’s ouster.

Raymond Ibrahim, Middle East expert and CBN News contributor, says Egyptian outrage is rooted in Morsi’s and the Brotherhood’s decision to put the advancement of radical Islamist ideology over the good of the Egyptian people.

“A lot of the people in Egypt on the ground are sick of them,” Ibrahim told CBN News. “They’re being accused of being disloyal, of working with foreign entities — and just to get themselves in power and do their bidding.”

The Brotherhood also faced backlash in Tunisia, where it rose to power in 2011. Its Palestinian branch, Hamas, has been weakened as well.

And a recent leadership change in the tiny, oil-rich nation of Qatar — one of the global Brotherhood’s biggest financiers — may affect the group’s efforts around the world.

But don’t begin writing an obituary for the Muslim Brotherhood because it remains active in some 70 countries — and it’s resilient.

Middle East analyst Avi Melamed is a former Israeli intelligence official. He says as the Brotherhood struggles to regain its footing, even more radical forces, like al Qaeda, are seeking to take advantage in places like Syria.

“We have to remember that the Muslim Brotherhood is a very substantial factor in the Arab world. This is the biggest mass movement in the Arab Muslim Sunni world,” Melamed told CBN News.

“Syria has also become a stage for the struggle between practical, political Syrian elements, like the Free Syrian Army on the one hand and radical Islam-affiliated groups, who basically see Syria as a great opportunity to establish an al Qaeda-style base in the heart of the Arab world,” Melamed explained.

The growing strength of al Qaeda and its allies became clear most recently in Kenya, where the terror group al-Shabaab killed at least 67 people at a Nairobi shopping mall.

At the same time, Shiite Iran continues its march toward a nuclear bomb, and its Lebanese-based proxy, Hezbollah, has stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets and missiles.

Another ally, Turkey, continues to be a power player in the Middle East and beyond.

As for the Brotherhood, CBN News has reported how its followers hold influential advisory positions in the Obama administration even as these Muslim Brothers continue to lead violent protests against the interim Egyptian government.

“If anything, usually before a death blow, things get very chaotic, and hectic and violent. So, if anything, you can expect to see more of an outlash from the Brotherhood,” Ibrahim said.

The weapons depots constituted the Islamist group’s logistic rear front, and the Egyptians reportedly also shut down arms workshops in Sheikh Zuweid which produced arms for Hamas.

Near those workshops, Hamas also operated firing ranges for testing rockets in the months before the Egyptian campaign, the officials said.

According to the Israeli sources, before the Egyptian revolution in 2011, whole sections of Sheikh Zuweid were considered extraterritorial for the Egyptian military, and Hamas therefore decided to locate its warehouses, test ranges and workshops there. Being in Egyptian territory, they would also be impervious from Israeli attack. The Israelis noted that the workshops were not large in scale and only a small portion of Hamas’s arms were produced there.

Egyptian security officials confirmed that there were storehouses in Shiekh Zuweid containing arms destined for Hamas, but they denied the presence of any workshops.

Bedouin tribes in the northern Sinai recently surrendered a stockpile of dozens of anti-tank missiles to the Egyptian authorities.

Relations between Hamas and Cairo broke down in recent months following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi by the military.

Egypt even referred to Hamas in the charge sheet against Morsi as a “terror organization.” Meanwhile, amid sour relations between Cairo and Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said that the Islamist terror group had renewed its relations with Tehran, in part due to the change in government there.

Others,To put pressure on the Egyptians to move forward on the roadmap.

nothing above, it Was just a support message to the terrorists in Egypt.

This message explains why terrorists was activated last week While terrorists were calmed down after egyptian security strikes in Cairo and Sinai.

the message was, continue in terrorism ,Kill – bomb – make mess in the streets and universities , No work – No investment – No Tourism – No economy.

To be fair I do not know specifically If the message carrying an explicit orders to kill and terrorize the Copts brothers but at least the message contains indirect incitement to do that.

So, Last Sunday, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Waraq near Cairo was attacked during a wedding ceremony, leaving four dead and many wounded. two of those who were murdered were Christian children—two girls; two Marys: 8 years old Mary Nabil , who took five shots in the chest, and 12 year old Mary Ashraf, who took a bullet in the back which burst from the front .